The invention relates to a mobile communications terminal for use in a plurality of wireless local networks and to a method, especially a log on method, for said terminal.
What is referred to as a “DHCP” server is known in the prior art. The task of this server is to allocate to mobile communications terminals looking for access to a wireless local network a usually temporary access address for this network, with such access addresses generally being referred to as IP addresses, provided the associated IP protocol is used for the communications link.
A known mobile communications terminal features a separate memory for the last access address for a specific wireless local network allocated to it in each case. This last access address is thus linked to that network in the plurality of wireless local networks in which the mobile communications terminal was last logged on.
With this type of mobile communications terminal it is seen as disadvantageous that a new communications link has to be established for each request for access to a wireless local network, in which case a new access address is to be issued by the server in each case. The sole exception is if the mobile communications terminal requests one and the same wireless local network in two consecutive sessions. In this case the mobile communications terminal can within one log on process transmit the last IP address read out from the log on memory as an access address when logging on to the DHCP server, after which the DHCP server checks whether it can allocate to the mobile communications terminal the access address which has already been used earlier for the sought network to which it belongs. If this access address is free the new communications link to the network sought can be established under the same access address.
Using this as its starting point, the object of the invention is to specify a mobile communications terminal for use in a plurality of wireless local networks as well as a suitable method for operation of said terminal in which the setup of communications links in different wireless local networks is simplified.